Support
Innovation is required to foster a culture that promotes independent living, with supports as appropriate. Those
persons in secure occupancy of rental accommodation with floating support services should enjoy the same
rights and duties as other individuals in rented accommodation and as such should be expected to contribute an
appropriate amount towards their accommodation costs on the same basis as those in receipt of rent
supplement.
Comhshaol, Pobal agus Rialtas Áitiúil
Environment, Community and Local Government
Youth Homelessness
The approach to tackling all forms of homelessness – child, youth and adult homelessness should be fully
integrated. In this context, the Minister for Children and Youth Affairs is currently overseeing a review of the Youth
Homelessness Strategy.
Measuring Progress
Measurement of progress is essential to determine if policies are working. Appropriate systems must be in place to
assess the extent of homelessness and to facilitate monitoring and reporting over time of people moving in and out
of homelessness. To this end, the national rollout of PASS must continue. The ongoing extent of homelessness in
Ireland must be quantified with confidence so that realistic and practical solutions can be brought forward. It is
acknowledged that good data is critical.
Delivery will be pursued through arrangements with housing authorities where the provision of funding is linked
directly to specific targets and outcomes. The central goal is to ensure that as many homeless persons as possible
succeed in having secure sustainable tenancies. A set of indicators will be used to demonstrate the dynamics of
homelessness as it is addressed. These indicators will give a clearer picture of homelessness in Ireland: the rate of
entry, duration and exits, together with the type and nature of accommodation.
Homelessness Policy
Statement
Oversight
There are already many institutional arrangements in place to monitor and measure progress, and it is not intended
to change these. However, it is essential to ensure that polices are working and that there is evidence to support
this. A high-level three-person oversight group will be established for the purpose of reviewing the approach being
advocated in this Homelessness Policy Statement, reviewing progress with indicators, identifying obstacles and
proposing solutions. It will be appointed by, and report directly to, the Minister of State for Housing and Planning.
Conclusion
Homelessness has proved to be an enduring and difficult problem for many of the people affected, and for society as
a whole. Central and local government and the voluntary sector have devoted considerable resources and effort to
the issue and real progress has been made. However, the problem remains. It is the purpose of this policy
statement to refocus those resources towards providing people who, for a variety of reasons, have found themselves
homeless with a home. It will guide all the commitment, energy, funding and goodwill of service providers in a
coherent and focused way to deliver a real home for those who are now caught in the trap of homelessness that
prevents them from living a free, dignified life.
February 2013
Overall Policy Objective / Context
The Programme for Government contains a commitment to ending long-term homelessness and the need to sleep
rough by implementing a housing-led approach. This approach recognises that long-term secure housing is the best
outcome for people affected by homelessness. By moving away from expensive emergency or shelter type
accommodation better use can be made of scarce resources.
The Government’s Housing Policy Statement has an overall objective to enable all households access good quality
housing appropriate to their circumstances and in their particular community of choice. It acknowledges that
delivering better outcomes for vulnerable and disadvantaged households is a key priority for the Government. In
this context, a continued focus on tackling the root causes of homelessness and maintaining an integrated and
efficient approach to service delivery is required.
Despite considerable investment by the state and the voluntary sector, homelessness remains an enduring social
phenomenon. It is recognised across society that homelessness is an affront to the dignity of the person, and that
government has an important role together with local authorities and the voluntary sector in addressing the issue.
This Homelessness Policy Statement responds to the commitments in the Programme for Government and will
facilitate the better outcomes advocated in the Housing Policy Statement. Its overall strategic objective is to bring
an end to long-term homelessness in Ireland.
•
A reconfiguration of existing emergency or transitional homeless facilities to provide a substantial number of
secure long-term tenancies for homeless persons is an ongoing priority.
•
Devolved funding arrangements are being put in place in lieu of the existing individual project based
arrangements so as to improve overall efficiency, achieve better value for money and provide greater local
decision making in homeless services.
The goal of public policy is to ensure a consistency in approach across the country, that decisions on services are
based on need and on achieving the best outcomes for homeless people.
The main focus in terms of housing supports provided by Government is on meeting the most acute needs.
Increasing the supply of rental stock as well as increasing permanent new social housing through innovative means
is a vital part of ensuring that Government meets its commitments. The non-profit sector has a central role in
realising the Government’s vision for housing provision.
Progress has been made but not enough and it is recognised that much more is needed. Results indicating
measurable degrees of progression of people exiting homelessness are lacking. There is a need to refocus our
efforts on delivery and on achieving better outcomes that can be quantified and contribute to better service delivery
nationwide.
Government policy in future will focus on the following distinct areas:
This Government’s policy on homelessness places the rapid provision of appropriate accommodation, with support
as needed to ensure sustainable tenancies, as the key solution to ending homelessness. Stable housing is a
sustainable solution to homelessness. It also reduces the long-term need for other services and has the potential to
produce more and better outcomes for the individual or family involved and for the public money invested.
While all homeless people have a need for adequate, sustainable and affordable housing, it is also recognised that
homelessness is a complex phenomenon, and that a variety of other supports can be required by individuals to meet
their individual needs.
It has been widely accepted that the strategy “The Way Home” is fundamentally sound. The development of a
housing-led approach to ending homelessness was implicit rather than explicit in that document and the primary
purpose of this policy statement is to make explicit this policy principle.
As part of the review of homelessness policy provided for in the Programme for Government, research
commissioned by the Department strongly endorsed the principles of “The Way Home”, criticised the value for
money obtained from the high levels of funding for homelessness services and found that securing appropriate
rental housing with support as needed could provide the sustainable tenancies that are key to ending homelessness
in Ireland.1 This policy statement is informed by that research together with related consultations with other
Departments, agencies, and the voluntary sector.
Accordingly, the core of this Government’s response to homelessness in Ireland is:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Preventing homelessness
Eliminating the need to sleep rough
Eliminating long-term occupation of emergency accommodation
Providing long-term housing solutions
Ensuring effective services
Better co-ordinated funding arrangements.
It is the Government's aim to end long-term homelessness by the end of 2016
While it is clear that a proportion of funding must be used to provide sufficient bed capacity to accommodate those
in need of emergency accommodation, it is equally important that resources are channelled to deliver more
permanent responses in a more focused and strategic way.
This more strategic approach includes measures already in train:
•
1
SLI, (Support to Live Independently) provides supports for persons leaving homelessness and co-ordinates
tenancy and other supports to meet each individual’s needs in their local community setting. It has a
central role in ending homelessness.
Associate Professor Eoin O’Sullivan of TCD was commissioned to produce a report, Ending Homelessness – A
Housing-Led Approach.
Housing-led
A housing-led approach is about accessing permanent housing as the primary response to all forms of
homelessness. It includes the prevention of loss of existing housing, and it incorporates the provision of adequate
support to people in their homes according to their needs. Housing First is one example of a housing-led policy
approach.
Housing-led is a significant departure from the “staircase” or “continuum of care” approach which has largely
dominated homelessness policy across Europe. This model saw stable housing being the end goal with homeless
people being moved through various stages in different residential services before becoming “ready” for re-housing.
In an Irish context, housing-led is about the rapid provision of secure housing, with support as needed to ensure
sustainable tenancies.
Supply
The availability and supply of secure, affordable and adequate housing, the availability of appropriate measures
to prevent homelessness and the availability of appropriate facilities and supports for homeless people are
critical to guaranteeing the success of the housing-led approach in Ireland.
It is acknowledged that there have been ongoing difficulties in these regards which actions under this policy
framework will address. A reliable supply of secure, affordable accommodation is vital to ending long-term
homelessness.
There is a need for greater innovation to accelerate the transfer of homeless people from inappropriate and
expensive emergency accommodation into more appropriate and sustainable housing, and to identify the
barriers and solutions to accessing a supply of appropriate and adequate housing.
There is no one-size-fits-all housing solution. Individuals and households have varying housing needs and
preferences, from individual units to shared accommodation. In all cases, people should have secure tenure and
a belief that the place they live in is their home, where they have a responsibility and a sense of belonging.
Prevention
Effective action is required to prevent, as far as possible, the occurrence or recurrence of homelessness. This will
require a range of measures from identifying households at risk, to working with people who are losing
tenancies and ensuring that adequate advice, advocacy and sustainment measures are in place in the context of
overall social housing policy as set out in the Government’s Housing Policy Statement.